Snowfall
by Ben Alexander
Summary: It began and ended with a snowfall... All her life, Lea has felt out of place beside her beautiful mother, Isabelle, but as Lea grows, and her own beauty begins to outshine her mother's, Isabelle's long supressed madness returns...
1. First Snowfall

**The DuBois Pentology  
****Tale the Second:  
Snowfall  
****(1827-1847)**

**Chapter One: First Snowfall**

It began and ended with a snowfall; the child was conceived whilst snowflakes were gently falling from the gray heavens-- covering the small house in a beautiful white glaze, and as beautiful as this scene would appear to anyone with a touch of romance in his heart, there was, however, a much darker side to things…

For Isabelle, fifteen years of age at the time had not consented to the act that would eventually produce the child nine months later. No. It was not beautiful; she was being raped by her own cousin.

"Stop!" she wailed, but he would not; he was a rather large man, and although she had successfully been able to resist his advances many times before this day, he had finally been able to overpower her, _Someone has to help me, _she thought, but no one was around for miles to hear her desperate screams; _The snow, _she realized at last-- after what seemed like hours had passed, he at last got off of her, and began to dress again for his workday, as if nothing had just happened between the two of them.

"You pig," she hissed, but he dismissed her words, "I'm off to work, fair cousin," he whispered, ignoring the angry tears pouring down her cheeks, and without a second glance, he left the small house, and Isabelle stood there, still reacting to everything that had just transpired. Still trembling from both fear and anger, she bolted the door, and watched her cousin leaving the house that they shared with three others; _They'll never believe me,_ she thought, pulling the curtains over the small window she had been looking out of, and bathing the house in darkness… Tears streaming down her face, and her naked body, she sat on the wooden floor of the cottage, and screamed out in despair; _I cannot live like this, _she thought, her hands continuing to shake as she brought them up to her hot and damp face, _What can I do? _She felt an emptiness inside of her-- she hated the sickening bastard.

She stood up once again, and felt her hands moving upon their own will; snatching a small hunting dagger from up off of a nearby table, and then raising it high above her chest, the blade eager to dig deeply into her flesh, and end all of her misery…

_No._

She could not simply end her life just because of all that had happened to her today… After all, _he _was the one who deserved to die; she let the dagger fall onto the floor, and put her pale face in the palms of her hands once again as she continued to weep bitterly. The flow of tears steadily worsened, and the emptiness within her grew and grew.

_How could this have happened to me? _She wondered, angrily; _To my knowledge, I have never sinned, and yet God allowed him to hurt me…_

She sighed, heavily. God could not be blamed for the sinful actions of corrupted men-- she knew this. She began to dress for her daily chores; hoping that they would help to shut out everything that had happened that morning. She pulled her long, dark hair back, and tied it up; her aunt, uncle, and eldest cousin were away, and would not be back for a few more days…

She boiled a pot of water for the medicinal tea that would hopefully calm her, and sitting there at the table, with a mug of tea clutched in her still trembling hands, she continued to cry until she was so empty that nothing more would come out.


	2. A Promise

**Chapter Two: A Promise**

The day went by extremely slowly, but at long last, the clock chimed the seventeenth hour, and a few minutes later, he returned; he was smiling at her-- she couldn't help but be surprised by the fact that the pig could still be grinning from ear to ear after what he had done to her, but she knew that he soon would never be able to smile at her-- or anyone ever again… "I missed you," he whispered, gently, taking off his hat, and gently laying his hand on her shoulder, which had at last stopped trembling, "I'm glad you've finally seen how wonderful we are together."

She slowly nodded; knowing what she had to do in order to catch him off his guard, and end his wickedness once and for all. Without another word exchanged between the two of them, she fell into his arms, and they were one again, "You're so beautiful," he whispered, moaning, as he lay on top of her on her bed. She nodded, feeling the sharp edge of the dagger in her hand that she had well concealed beneath one of her pillows all day, in order to do away with him for good. Without a second thought, she raised it over his back, making sure he couldn't see it, "And you'll never hurt me again," she plunged it into his flesh, surprised by how easily it sunk inside, before he had a chance to respond to her statement. Her eyes glinted with slight amusement as his blood poured from out of the open wound, onto the rest of his body, and then onto hers; his eyes widened in surprise, and continued to stare as she kicked him off of her, and onto the hard floor to ensure that the blood would not stain the white linen sheets that she slept on, "Goodbye," she whispered, as his breaths subsided and then ended altogether. She stood; his blood pooling at her bare feet, _That felt so wonderful, _she thought, and then, she realized that the body would have to be hidden to avoid any further trouble or questions…

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

She washed the blood from off of her, and then dressed quickly and quietly. Midnight was soon approaching, and she paused to marvel at how quickly time had gone by; after having had scrubbed the floor of her bedroom to remove all traces of blood, and checking her face one final time in the mirror to make sure it was clean again, she wrapped his body up in a dark colored sheet, pulled a coat over herself to stifle any shivers from going outside as it was frigid, and then began dragging the body outside into the snowy woods…

_You only got what you deserved, _she thought, bitterly; stepping in her tracks-- sure that this was the right spot to conceal his body for all eternity. _May you rest in peace, _she thought, digging a long hole in the ground, and placing him within, pausing for a slight moment to take out the dagger that was still embedded deep within the flesh of his back, and wiping it clean on the dark sheet, "You'll never hurt me again," she whispered for a second time; covering him up with the dark-colored dirt to hide him from prying eyes, and after having covered up his corpse, piled some freshly fallen snow to make the spot utterly unrecognizable from any other spot in the woods, _You'll burn in hell, dear cousin, _and with one final glance at the seemingly empty tomb that would forever contain his body, she turned her back to the spot, and started home, as snow continued to fall from the dark skies.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Staring directly at her pale face in the looking-glass, Isabelle felt as though a very great weight had been lifted from off of her shoulders at the death of her cousin. She felt no guilt-- no remorse. _I still cannot believe that I've done this, _she thought, pulling her hair back, and smiling as the falling snow outside at last stopped, as if satisfied with her kill, _Winter's nearly over, _she realized, as she stepped back from the mirror, and began walking back towards her bedroom.

Winter was leaving rapidly, and spring was approaching just as quickly; with it, the snow would be replaced by fresh springtime air, and her cousin's body would most likely thaw out in the forest.

_That does not matter though, _she thought, _for no one will think to search for him there, _a slight smile formed on her face, although it did not make her beautiful as it once had-- it filled her eyes with a crazy glow, and made her almost ugly. _Maybe I can convince them that he ran off to England with some local pleasure-woman, and they'll _have _to believe me, for what else will there be _to _believe?_

She laughed, wildly, and lay down in bed.

The madness had at last manifested.


	3. Decisions

**Chapter Three: Decisions**

She felt the slight curve of he stomach, and bit her tongue down hard in order to prevent herself from screaming out in suppressed anger; she knew that it would grow larger and larger, and that would soon lead to questions-- questions that would be quite difficult to answer given the circumstance. Other than her dead cousin and herself, everybody in the whole world thought that she was still a virgin-- what would she do? What could she say when asked why her belly was becoming bloated with child? She wept, bitterly, and wrung her hands in great frustration pertaining to the new life that was growing within her.

_Please, God, _she thought, _Let it die-- don't let it be born-- don't let it live, _she pounded upon her stomach with her small, white hands in anger, but she knew that it would do no good-- but, everything-- _everything _that she had done-- the murder, the burial, the lies to cover her cousin's disappearance up… following the birth of the child, she knew that all of these successful doings would be thwarted, and her crime would be exposed-- she would be hanged for murder, for no one would believe that she had done it practically out of self-defense. Her aunt and uncle belonged to the most powerful community in all of the community, and they would have her tried and convicted without a second thought on the matter-- they had been quite distressed to learn of their son's "running away," and would do drastic things if the truth was exposed. Her life would end in vain because of this vile child born of a union between Satan and Isabelle-- a girl who was no more than a child herself.

_It's hopeless-- all of this is completely hopeless, _she realized, but there were decisions to be made today; she had to be stronger starting now more than ever before.

She stood up on two shaking legs, and made her way to a heavy trunk that contained all of her worldly possessions, keeping them safe. She opened it, finding the dagger that had ended her cousin's life hidden beneath her knitting things. It was nearing two o'clock in the morning, but as long as she was well hidden by the dark trees of the forest by dawn, she would not have to worry about being discovered; her aunt, uncle, and younger cousin were still sleeping in the other rooms of the cottage, and she knew that they would not give a damn about her disappearance-- they _had _cared about her vile cousin, although they had actually believed that he had run off with a common slut, for it was a well-known fact that he had enjoyed pleasuring himself with many other women. It wasn't too much of a surprise, and the three of them continued to pray each night that he would return to the cottage with his senses fully restored. But, Isabelle leaving would actually be a relief to them-- they had never cared too much for her, and Isabelle knew that her uncle was already planning on marrying her off to some wealthy older gentleman on the other side of the country in order to make some money off the trade. They despised her presence, and resented her for staying there, although she hadn't had much of a choice.

There wasn't much that she could take with her for her journey into the wood; a few changes of clothes, and all of the money she had saved from doing odd jobs around the town-- there wasn't very much, but she wouldn't be needing very much money for where she was headed.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

She entered the forest nearly fifteen minutes later, careful to not awaken her sleeping relatives, as they would be extremely angry with her. The forest seemed beautiful to her, even in the night, as she had always loved it. She had slight memories of her parents and sister, but they were sparse, as both her mother and sister had died when she was seven… She remembered her father the most-- she remembered the day vividly when he had left her outside his sister's cottage, telling her to be a good girl, and stay there-- that day, he promised he would eventually come back for her. He never did, and that was nearly eight years ago. She knew that her longing emptiness had been caused partly by the deaths of her sister and mother-- but more prominently by the abandonment by her father. She hated him so much, and yet she still sought his love and guidance, although she knew she would probably never see him again.

Time passed as she continued to walk deeper into the forest-- deeper than she ever had been before. The sun rose, and her face was bathed in warm sunlight. She felt alive and free-- maybe-- just maybe, the birth of the child would provide a new beginning for her. She would love the child, even though its father was a rapist bastard, and she would raise the child, giving it everything she had ever sought in her own childhood these past several years-- a parent's love.

It was nearing five in the afternoon when she at last stopped walking, feeling a wave of sleepiness, and the longing to sit and rest for a bit-- but then, she found it: a small cottage in the middle of the woods. She rushed towards it, and peered inside through the dusty and cracked window; there wasn't much inside. The place had obviously been abandoned years before, as she could plainly see that everything inside was filled with layer upon layer of dust. She approached the door; the cottage was quite beautiful and large-- she wondered why such a place had been abandoned, and opened the door, entering the place, and breathing in the harsh odor of dust and mildew.

She found that the cottage consisted of four rooms; a kitchen, a living-room of sorts, and two bedrooms. There was furniture in each room; including a feathered mattress in the Master Bedroom that she immediately lay upon, and fell fast asleep.

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

The next day, Isabelle woke, and began cleaning the old cottage from top to bottom, deciding that if she would live here, the place would have to be clean and deprived of filth. She found that outside there was a fresh-water well, a few trees dotted with many red apples, and berry bushes as well. She had plenty to eat, and after a few months, she would go into town to purchase some items for the baby.

She smiled.

Things were going to be different now.

And she was right.


End file.
